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Summer Reading from Phoenix Comicon Authors, Part 2 Richard Kadrey

As mentioned in a previous post, Summer is usually the best time to start new books, and new authors. At Phoenix Comicon I had the chance to sit down with some of Harper Fantasy’s authors. Part one of the interviews with Alex Gordon, can be found here. The second interview I had was with Richard Kadrey, who spoke to me about Killing Pretty, the newest installment of his series about Sandman Slim. So for anyone new to the series, what can you tell me about Sandman Slim?

is named James Stark, he was someone unjustly sent to hell for 11 yrs after his girlfriend is murdered. He escapes from Hell to LA to avenge her and find them who sent him to Hell in the first place, BUT its funny, lots of murder but funny murder.

And what can you tell me about the newest book?

It’s the search for Death’s murderer, and the history of LA. The first 6 books formed a story arc and Killing Pretty is starting new story arc that starys with Death, which also brings us to the history of LA and the LA crime, I’ve been calling it my James L Roy.

Do you always have an end game when you sit down to write, or do you let the story and characters grow as you write?

I always have an idea in my head…but it’s not firmly blocked out, theres always a certain amount of planning and improvising and that keeps it interesting

Why the focus on the supernatural, and how do you balance keeping things realistic?

Its the thing I’ve always gravitated to, as fun as Lord of the Rings can be it has nothing to do with me or the people I care about. Writing in the real world is a chance to tell the story of the people and the places they inhabit. I like cities because to me cites are fractals, and there’s always another boulevard to go down.

Finally what’s something you’d want people to know about the book?

With Killing Pretty I wanted to take a break from the continuing story so we have the Death story, the next book is untitled it will go back and be in in Hell, with the story of Heaven and Hell and how it affects the dead and the future of the human race…

a lot of it i about Stark’s evolution, the whole series is the rehabilitation of a monster. When Stark comes back to Earth from Hell he’s monstrous. The things he does are kind of terrible at first and then he becomes involved with people, people he cares about and he resents that at firs, caring, but over time begs to see it as a strength.

So, will you be reading Killing Pretty? Let us know in the comments, and for more author recommendations see the other interviews with Phoenix Comicon Authors here.